fred wrote:

On 16 May, 15:13, Frank Erskine wrote:


B&Q have suitable stuff amongst their hardware - ropes, chain etc.


Thanks....didn't expect to be able to pick it up from the sheds...I
should have checked there first.


Hmmmn, I'm not so sure, I think lashing wire is special (well, different
anyway) in that you just loop it through a bracket, twist it back on (and
around) itself and it will hold. I'm not sure that either regular wire rope or
catenary wire will do the same self gripping job. I stand to be corrected but
TV tech groups might have that specialist knowledge, uk.tech.digital-tv
springs to mind but there may be a better choice.

I agree with you Fred.

I was surprised to see the suggestion that B&Q held stock. I have never
seen it in our local store.

I'm sure that you could cobble something together using wire and clamps
from B&Q but this would be expensive and involve extra work.

To the OP, it is possible to splice two cables together without
weakening the cable but this has to be a proper splice and not a simple
twist/knot sort of thing. It is easy to do but hard to describe in
words! I have looked on Google but I can't find a reference.

Basically, it needs the two cables splayed out by, say, a foot or more
and put end to end so that the individual cores are accessible. Take one
core and wrap it tightly around the opposite *cable* five or six times
then cut off excess. Do the same with one of the cores from the opposite
cable. By now you will have made a joint, carry on doing this with
alternate wires, each wrap being done tightly and close to the adjacent
wrap. Now it will become clear why so much of the cable had to be
splayed out!

As I said, easier to do than describe!

HTH

Steve